A New Year: Philadelphia Flyers Start 2010-11 With a Win

For fans of the Philadelphia Flyers, the healing process has begun.

Three painful months after Lord Stanley’s Cup was ripped from their grasp, the Flyers started the 2010-11 year with a preseason battle with the New Jersey Devils, culminating in a shootout victory.

Head coach Peter Laviolette did not hesitate to put a majority of his key players on the ice for the first preseason game, choosing to dress only two players who have never played in an NHL regular season game before.

Despite playing with experienced players, neither of the two newcomers – center Ben Holmstrom and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky – seemed intimidated by the big stage. 

Holmstrom played a strong, hard-hitting game between tough guys Ian Laperriere and Jody Shelley, and Bobrovsky stopped all seven shots he faced in the third period and overtime and earned himself a victory in the shootout.

The Russian-born netminder made two spectacular saves in the third period to keep the Flyers in the game.

The Flyers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Darroll Powe and Jeff Carter, despite the fact that the Devils applied more offensive pressure in the early stages of the game. 

The Devils got on the board when Adam Mair deflected a shot by Henrik Tallinder into the net with 3:06 remaining in the first.

Starting goalie Michael Leighton looked solid at times, but showed some rust when it came to controlling rebounds.  Dainius Zubrus and Jamie Langenbrunner scored goals 4:06 apart in the second, both coming off of rebounds.

The Flyers allowed 23 shots through the first two periods of play, but the defense picked up in the third and only allowed five shots in front of their new goaltender, Bobrovsky.  The team controlled the flow of play in the third, and was rewarded when Danny Briere tied the score with a shot over the shoulder of backup goalie Matt McKenna at 13:54 in the third.

Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador took a holding penalty in overtime to give the Flyers a chance to win, but the team was unable to convert against McKenna despite looking strong on the 4-on-3.

In the shootout, each team’s first two shooters failed to convert.  Claude Giroux gave the Flyers the advantage with an impressive backhand goal, but born-again Devil Jason Arnott delayed the celebration in the Wells Fargo Center by beating Bobrovsky five-hole.

Flyers captain Mike Richards was the team’s fourth shooter, fooling McKenna with a deke and sliding the puck past the goalie’s outstretched pads.  Jacob Josefson missed on the final shot to seal the victory for the Flyers and finally get the taste of Game Six out of Philadelphia’s collective mouth.

The road to the Stanley Cup is long and grueling, no doubt.  But for the Philadelphia Flyers, it has begun, and fans can stop looking back to last year and start looking forward to this year.

Roster Watch:  Laviolette started all three defensemen assumed to be competing for the sixth roster spot.  Oskars Bartulis was given the most penalty kill time but was unimpressive overall, looking uneasy on the ice at times.  Sean O’Donnell played an uneventful game as Bartulis’ partner but looked stronger than the Latvian sophomore.  Matt Walker saw the least amount of time on the ice, but made his presence felt with an early fight against Devils’ tough guy Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond.  Darroll Powe scored a goal and was given shifts on the penalty kill.  Bill Guerin played 15:14 and was on the ice for Briere’s goal, but did not appear on the score sheet.  Jody Shelley played 9:04 and established himself as an enforcer by going toe-to-toe with Latourneau-Leblond, but also picked up a roughing penalty on the play to put his team on the penalty kill.  Ben Holmstrom played an impressive game on the fourth line, but may find that the Flyers simply have too many experienced and expensive candidates at forward taking up roster spots.